Bigs

Where were u fishing ? Is that burke lake ? Impressive catch for sure.

Glad to hear everything is kosher now. As for the river, its very muddy right now. The only good placeS to fish I know of is somewhere like blue plains which is too dangerous for you to navigate at your experience level, with all due respect. Maybe mattawoman creek. Some guys I know caught a few dozen today on crankbaits at mattawoman. Good luck and plz be safe. Lemme know if you need someone to help you with launching and puttin the boat back on the trailer, etc.. It's kinda nerve racking the first few times you put a boat on the water. So many things to think about and to remember to do. I have an annual launch pass for leesylvania which is the easiest ramp for a new boater to launch at and mattawoman is only maybe 1.5 nautical miles away from the ramp.

I love my mbr842 glx. I use it 75 percent of the time when Im not fishing heavy grass or wood. If you do decide to sell your 843 then lemme know, I may be interested.

Thats the beauty of being where I am. Im 5 minutes from the potomac which I love plus leesylvania has the best quality ramps on the river. And when I wanna get away I can fish Anna, I might even be living there full time for a short period of time while we shop for another house. So I guess I'll be stuck fishing it for a while :-? I feel like for right now , fishing the lake is making me better, esp when it comes to my worm and jig game. I wanna continue to learn on how to improve my skills with soft plastics and presentations. I'm glad I spent as much time as I did on the lake this winter, wish I could have been there even more. I can't wait till the grass on the river gets real nice, I'll be out there as much as I can.

I think most ponds in woodbridge/dale city get overlooked. I never see anyone talk about fishing from shore out here. With leesylvania 3 miles from my house , it's hard to pass it up on any given day spring-fall. I think most ppl here in dale city go straight to the potomac and rightfully so.

Quite refreshing to see someone post who speaks from experience. Educated opinions are hard to come by on here but you pretty much nailed it. I agree with what you said for sure.

you obviously havnet fished lake anna then, theres no comparison. You can fish over a dozen boathouses in a 150 foot stretch. And they are everywhere non stop. I havent seen many boathouses on the potomac at all. Some docks here and there but few boathouses.You have to get the boat on plane to get from one to the next where as at anna u can stay on the trolling motor and never go on plane much like I did back in the cove where my house is. We went from boathouse to boathouse and didnt even get to try them all. Theres nowhere on the potomac like that.

did u catch these around woodbridge ?

Dan the potomac never reaches the same temps as the warm side at anna. Its 68-69 degrees there right now near dy ke one and 61-63 over on my part of the lake which is known as Glenn's cove. I hear what youre sayin tho. I'll have to start dividing my time between anna and the potomac. I actually like fishin anna more in some ways even tho its harder to catch big fish there then it is on the potomac. I'm startin to really like dock/boathouse fishing which you cannot do on the potomac very much. Totally different styles. But theres alot more ways to catch fish on anna too which is nice for someone like me who's tryin to develop a skill set in multiple styles/aspects. April should be pretty good on the potomac but theres also gonna be alot more boats out there then there ever is at anna. I guess as soon as the bite slows down at anna then its gonna be pretty much be potomac time all the time.

I fished Lake Anna yesterday and did ok. I caught 8 bass that were all between 1-2.5 pounds and my friend Brent caught 5. Caught almost everything pitching plastics to boathouses and docks. Saw hundreds more shad again and adult bass just cruising. There was even a few 3-4 pounders swimming around my boathouse. The pattern I started to figure out was basically texas rigged 6" lizards/5" grubs , and 4" senkos on a zappu wacky jig head pitched underneath boats that were up on lifts and around the posts holding the docks up. Of course by the time we started concentrating on boathouses and docks, the sun was bout to go down. Caught a few in some creeks on tree laydowns too which was fun. Dy ke one was a waste of time which is a sign that the bass are moving back up into all the shallow areas. Lost a few nice ones but nothing to write home about. Lake Anna warm side is only gonna get better every day for the next 2-3 months till it gets hot and goes to crap. Those of you who arent gettin out there are missin out for sure

Sounds like there might be a nova fish fry coming up

Sorry to hear bout your boat Aaron. Lemme know how that turns out plz. If your boat is down for a while and u wanna join me one day then lemme know. I fished a lil today at lake anna and caught 3 small bass. My buddy caught 4 small ones and Chris(cmatthews) caught one but it was a 4 pounder. I lost two consecutive 4-5 pounders in maybe a 3 minute span that I fought for maybe 20 seconds each and both jumped in the air and spit the shakey head maybe 15 feet from the boat. Just my luck. Seems like Lake Anna is startin to heat up tho. We all had tons of bites and alot of lost fish. The water temps were up on my end of the lake from 43 degrees two weeks ago to 58 degrees now and 67 degrees over by dy ke one. My buddy even had one that was a on a bed but it got off. That was the only bedding bass we saw. I listened to what others suggested for lake anna recently and caught nothing all day, then I switched to what I knew the last 2 hours and as usual started to get bites. Think Im gonna just follow my gut instinct from now on and fish what I have confidence in. We also saw maybe 200-300 shad or herring, not sure what they were but they were all schooled up about 300 feet from my dock right where we launch. Tons and tons of them and they were huge like the ones u see at blue plains. Im glad we didnt snag any

JCrzy, where are you in Dale city ? Im right off of Cardinal drive. We're pretty spoiled to have leesylvania only a few miles away. My gf has actually fished the Chick quite a bit so Im counting on her when Im ready to go down there. She loves it , says its one of her fave spots to fish in va. I never been tho. I always read the chick reports in woods and water magazine so I have some basic ideas for when I get down there. I hear the topwater bite is insane.

Exactyly why Im gonna be on Lake Anna that day. Oh and Dan I didnt know you went to JMU too. Nice

I havent watched MTV in many years. I remember back when they played music videos all day, dems were the days.

please post some pics !

Somehow I dont think we're talkin bout fish here

Fort washington just might be real good in april, not sure. I had luck when I fished there over the summer. Lots of big hawgs in piscataway creek. And plz dont forget about the swim jig. No one seems to talk about swimmin jigs but they are dynamite. Partly cuz not alot of guys throw them on the river, so fish arent as used to seeing them as they are with crankbaits, traps, spinnerbaits, etc..I caught at least 60 percent of my potomac fish last year on a Daves Tournament Tackle swim jig with a rage tail trailer. Good luck and be careful out there.

While you're out there , I'll be back at the lake tryin my luck once again. Seems like by the time I start to figure out these lake anna fish then it's gonna be time for me to start bringin my boat on the river again. Maybe we can go out the following weekend on the river ? I just might have my boat back up this way by then too. I'm gonna have to make a decision on if I should haul the boat back with me when I come back next monday. Just no way of knowing when snow will hit us again so I gotta play it safe. My boat is full next sunday and monday but if any other boaters wanna come out and try their luck on some spawning bass on the warm side of lake anna then contact me. Next monday its supposed to be 65 degrees 8-)

I have to agree with this. Aussies are amazing dogs, one of if not the best. Me and my gf already have a few small dogs but an Aussie is our next dog once we finish moving into a new house. That dog in the pic looks outstanding btw, Im very jealous.

Ya I mentioned on Aarons thread that we're lookin at high 50's and low 60's for the next 10 days down towards central va. Its usually 3-4 degrees warmer in the central va area then it is in northern va. Funny how a difference of 60 miles can have such an impact on climate. Soon I wont have to wear these silly thermals and this wind/rain suit.

It's cuz your boy Thai has been banned for the past week! I really want to hit up the occoquan river this weekend in the kayak. ANy of you yakers down? That has absolutely nothing to do with the lack of production on the river or anything even to do with this thread whatsoever. Best to stay on topic here. Somewhat back on topic, Im about to start moving in the next few weeks so my potomac outings wont be as frequent this spring. Looks like I'll be fishing alot of lake anna for the next few months while I stay there and maybe the James and Chickahominy. Hopefully we will find our new house soon and it wont be too far from the river. My search for a house has been basically between stafford and the massaponax area. Living near Aquia creek would be sweet, that place is money all summer.

A setup for flippin/punchin mats has got to be high quality imo. Of all your setups , it's one that you shouldnt pinch pennies on. I suggest saving more money. Not like you're gonna be punchin mats anytime soon, its will be months before you can put it to use. So save more money and get a powell 766 and a decent baitcaster with alot of drag thats fairly high speed. Nothing under 6.3:1 imo.

I checked the 10 day forecast for lake anna and saw several days in the 60's and high 50's but it would be nice to get out on the potomac for a change. Tho, I havent heard about anyone doin well on the river lately.

I switch up and change my setups alot since Im still trying to figure what works best for me. I just bought a revo premier, didnt like my previous revos but this one I like cuz its light and it was only 129 bux at gander mountain. Im gonna be using that on my powell 766 for flippin/punchin grass mats and for hollow frogs. My go-to setup for light stuff is my daiwa pixilla/mbr842 glx Crankbaits- Daiwa crazy cranker/crucial 7' mh tc4 crankbait rod Spinnerbaits/jerkbaits- Daiwa supertuned fuego/loomis spinnerbait rod SBR812C Shakeyheads- Shimano stradic mgfb 2500/custom built split grip loomis glx 7' medium fast Small worms, grubs and plastics- Shimano Stradic ci4 2500 and still looking for a rod to put it on. Overall soft plastics setup- Supertuned Daiwa Steez103/loomis bcr853 glx Carolina Rig- Daiwa Steez 100/ Loomis BCR874 GLX Texas rig senkos- Daiwa Steez 103/Loomis BCR893 GLX Jigs- Daiwa TDZ100M supertuned/ Avid 7 foot mh fast Dropshot- Shimano symmetre 2500/ 7'2 crucial dropshot rod Buzzbaits- Daiwa fuego and still looking for the right rod